Pittsburgh Regional Transit limiting hours of Smithfield Street Service Center for health concerns

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Regional Transit calls it a destructive, dangerous and disgusting problem. People are treating the Smithfield Street Service Center like a bathroom. Now, PRT is closing it during off-hours because of what it says is a public health concern of defecation and drug use inside the vestibule.

“That makes me sick,” Dale Labby tells Channel 11 News. “People work hard for their money. They work very hard.”

The floors were filthy, the walls and windowsills were covered in something that certainly looked like human waste and our crews smelled a mixture of urine and alcohol.

“You see homeless people living here,” said Labby. “You don’t know what to do. They need Port Authority cops to ride by and chase them off.”

“I think it’s worse,” David Cook added. “People are overdosing and sleeping down here.”

PRT says it’s a public safety and health concern, so it’s limiting the hours the fare vending machines are open to the public and monitoring the activity. The Smithfield Street fare vending machines will now be open from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday. Riders will have to walk a few blocks to the Wood Street Station or Steel Plaza station to use the kiosks during off-hours.

Some riders say they’d like to see those responsible for these disgusting acts held accountable, instead of paying customers being inconvenienced during the coldest months of the year.

“If they have cameras, what’s stopping them?” asked Labby. “Take them to court, put them in jail. You need to do that to get these homeless people out of here.”

PRT says it’s extremely thankful to riders who understand the appreciate the need for this change.

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